Event: The Book Market
Ysella Sims takes us on a tour of the Exeter City of Literature Book Market on Sunday 9th
A firm favourite on the calendars of South West literary lovers, Exeter City of Literature’s annual Book Market returned to its new home on Cathedral Green this Sunday, gathering together independent bookshops, vendors, and authors for a celebration of all things bookish.
Saturday’s rain gave way to Sunday sunshine and a fresh wind that set the gazebos flapping along the busy avenue of people browsing books and chatting with stall holders. At Bookonahook, a crowd of young people jostled to choose from keyrings, bookmarks, and Tote bags printed with quotes like, ‘Take away my books and I shall be desperate!’ and ‘Well behaved women rarely make history’. At Emma Hen Designs, a young boy grins as his dad buys a handmade cushion that reads, I Like Big Books!
From top left: Bibliotherapy; Exeter Cathedral’s Riddler in Residence; Francis Kay vintage typewriters; the Pelican Press printing blocks. Photos by Ysella Sims.
There’s a friendly buzz as devoted booklovers and accidental tourists – along with a selection of dogs – mingle. A variety of accents carry on the wind, along with the smell of hot food. On the grassy slopes in front of the Cathedral, families picnic and young couples listen to author talks in the nearby tent. A grandmother pulls a just-purchased picture book from a bag to read to her grandson.
I am in time to hear Aaliyah Kara and Arun Sood in conversation about verse and vision: poetry, place, and multidisciplinary practice. Their conversation is wide-ranging and generous as they read from their work and share reflections on rootedness, the impact of colonialism – on literary forms, expression, and ideas of self – on the ‘oppression of belonging’, and explore the complex question of why they write.
Authors Arun Sood and Aaliyah Kara. Photo by Ysella Sims.
As I listen to the author talk, I watch people at the Pelican project using blocks and ink to print on paper. A small boy walks off, proudly waving his poster, as his dad wheels a buggy. An older woman climbs on to the wheelchair printing press with her Jack Russell, asking an aproned helper to take photos of them, and again when, beaming, she reveals her poster to the camera, which reads, BARNIE!
There are activities, too, and I spend a happy while chatting to the brilliant youngsters manning the Exeter City of Literature stalls, and drawing words of inspiration from the Literary Dream Machine, and adding some slightly more prosaic ones of my own. I add a book and emotion to the Bibliotherapy board and learn about Exeter City of Literature’s upcoming bibliotherapy course designed to help people use literature to understand and cope with the world around them. I browse the beautiful handmade creations at Inky Fingers, coming away with a notebook made from a hardback 1920s edition of Little Lord Fauntleroy that might otherwise have ended up in landfill (check out their monthly collage club – cutting and sticking… what’s not to love?!)
From Left to Right: Inky Fingers Printshop’s recycled notebooks; taking inspiration from the Literary Dream Machine. Photo by Ysella Sims.
There’s a lovely balance between the traditional and the contemporary, reflected in the conversation around the drawbacks and benefits of traditional versus self-publishing. It’s there in the framing of the historic buildings of Cathedral Green alongside the VOLO virtual reality activity too, where you can climb onto a playground or wheelchair accessible swing, don a VR headset, and take flight in a Leonardo da Vinci virtual flying machine, up amongst the pigeons.
As I head away, it feels as though the market is coming with me – I notice graphic art on lampposts and shop windows, revellers in book-themed fancy dress pouring out of a hotel. On a busy street corner outside Tesco, amidst the Sunday shoppers, a mum is calling to her young son who has strayed from the family group, “Don’t you want to hear the story?” she asks. He hurries over and she begins to read a story aloud about Francis Drake.
I make my way home smiling, with lots of new inspiration and feeling fed in all the best ways. Thanks to Exeter City of Literature for organising such a joyful event – see you back on Cathedral Green next year!